Six hundred surfers from eight to 80 made the pilgrimage to New Lambton to hear the legendary surf photographer and movie maker, Jack McCoy, tell his story.

And what a story it was.

From the 1970s until now, McCoy has made a living - and built a peerless reputation - photographing and filming many of the world's greatest surfers, often in exotic, far-flung locations.

Such is the impact of his imagery that some of the world's biggest brands have knocked on his door to have him help sell their product.

Those gigs, like the one pictured here photographing Laird Hamilton in Tahiti for Oxbow, might be all expenses paid with luxuries laid on, but for most of Jack's career, his surfer's wander-lust has meant living out of a backpack, moving from country to country, and project to project.

The Wests edition of Jack McCoy Talk Story was the seventh in a run that included two slots at Sydney's Vivid festival.

At each show McCoy would talk and show stills and clips for more than two hours, with some of his favourite surfers as special guests.

No longer the "loud American" he said he was when he moved to Australia as a young man - McCoy is a natural raconteur.

With a simple set-up - Jack to one side of the Starlight Room's elevated stage with giant screens behind and on each side - he held his audience pretty much spellbound for the entire show.

His Newcastle guests were former world champ and regular McCoy collaborator Mark Occhilupo, alongside Newcastle's own Peter McCabe, whose early Indonesian exploits were preserved for all time in McCoy's features Tubular Swells and Storm Riders.

McCoy opened the show with memories of his childhood in Hawaii - particularly the two occasions he met Duke Kahanamoku, the stately Olympic swimming champion whose exhibitions of wave-riding on giant (four-metre) wooden boards introduced the ancient Polynesian sport to the rest of the world.

After covering his arrival in Australia in 1970 - a time of "Kombi vans and red setters" - he brought on McCabe, to wild cheers from the crowd.

Surfing might have begun in Hawaii, and the size and power of its waves mean it is still the ultimate testing ground for anyone wanting to make a mark in the sport.

But the discovery of hypnotically perfect surf in Bali - and the realisation that similar waves were all along more than 5000 kilometres of Indonesian coast - changed everything.

The footage of McCabe at Uluwatu and Padang brought the house down, as did Mark Occhilupo when he and McCoy recalled some of the diversions they used to while away time on Sumba - a then-isolated island halfway between Bali and Timor-Leste - waiting for a sizeable swell to arrive.

Talked into trying the local stimulant, betel nut, Occy found himself invited into a traditional Sumbese dwelling - a thatched hut with a high-steepled roof.

Sitting on a platform about a metre above the ground, Occy followed the locals' lead and spat the resultant gusher of red saliva over the edge.

It was only when they were leaving that Occy realised what everyone had been laughing at.

He'd been unwittingly sending a torrent of spit into the shoes he had left outside before entering the house!

And on it went.

McCoy had not wanted me to reveal his age when I wrote a piece before the show, fearing that the younger crew might not want to listen to someone about to turn 70.

Back-of-the-envelope maths tells that you someone who was an adult in 1970 has to be getting on a bit now, but if there's one thing that keeps us older people on our toes, it's staying in touch with young people.

Jack is passionate about "passing on the stoke" to each new generation, and showed this by restricting the entries in a lucky door prize - a new board - to "the groms".

When the lights finally came up at the end of a monster show, Jack and Occy stuck around to meet their audience.

They were still at it more than an hour later, with groms and grandparents alike waiting in line for a selfie and a program signing.

It was a great show.

But more than that, it was a gathering of the clan, and an evening to celebrate the love of surfing.

Everyone went home with smiles a mile wide.